How To Work, Live & Look Better In 5 Simple Steps

high performers. They are exceptionally focused, insanely organized and (therefore) incredibly productive. They are detail oriented, remember things well, are good with deadlines, and usually get out of bed before their alarm clock.Others are… well, not. I happen to fall into the “not” category.Some of us (including me) are big performers. I say “big” because they think Big. They have Big dreams, Big goals and usually Big personalities. More than anything else, they are exceptionally skilled at seeing the Big Picture. These people are good at ideas. They are fantastic at coming up with great concepts and understanding how those concepts will play out. Unfortunately, they’re not detailed oriented, forget stuff and often finish projects just before the deadline — or just after it. And, of course, they hit snooze a few times before getting out of bed.But people with big ideas want to bring those ideas to life — they just need help being more productive. And so, hoping for that, I undertook a quest to achieve better productivity.Along the way, I compiled a list of five rules to increase productivity. The best part is, these rules can be applied to any job, any field of study and, in fact, any area of your life.Here they are:

1. Write It Down

This should have been one of the easier habits to adopt, but I wasn’t able to make it “stick” until about Day 9. Writing things down is something I recommend in a lot of instances, and since I’m an intense planner when it comes to diet and training, it makes a lot of sense to me.You see, putting something down in black and white gives it something it lacked previously: tangibility. Writing takes things from ideas to plans.In my case, the way I am doing things now is to have working to-do lists. I simply make a list each night of all of the stuff I want to do the next day, listed in either order of importance or the chronological order that I want to finish them (you’ll have to play around to see what works best for you). By doing this, I am immediately able to get started on my day in a productive way.

This is surprisingly effective. Even writing down “walk the dog for at least 25 minutes” seems to have an impact on the weight of that task, and I’m a lot less likely to skip out halfway through.Going further than to-do lists, I now write down nearly everything. I carry a small pocket notebook with me and jot down any idea that comes to mind that I’d like to blog about, as well as random thoughts that drift into my head, which I find allows me to organize things more efficiently.The pocket notebook has long been a tool for some of the most productive people in history — Thomas Jefferson carried one made of ivory leaves that he used to record everything from quotes to the migrations of birds.

Other famous bad-asses are known for pocket notebooks, including Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Charles Darwin, and Ludwig Van Beethoven.

If it’s good enough for presidents and scientists, it’s good enough for ol’ Roman.

To put things back in the fitness context and give you something actionable, I suggest you start recording both your meals and your training sessions. Ideally, you will plan them out beforehand and then record them during, to see how closely you can match your plan.In the case of mycoaching clients, both training and diet are planned for them, and the client has to follow the plan. If you’re using a program likeFinal Phase Fat Loss, you have the Training Log Sheets, and you have spaces to record your weight and reps. Life is a lot easier and more productive when these things are handled in advance (or simply done for you).Even if you’re not going to start planning your diet and training in advance, at the very least I recommend you start recording them during the event. You are a lot more likely to get a better workout and eat the right things.Another cool diet tip is to use your cell phone camera to take a picture of every meal. Tim Ferriss calls this “the flash diet.” Taking a picture serves as a pattern interrupt and forces you to think about what you’re eating. While you don’t have to post the pictures on Facebook or Twitter, try to look at your meals through that lens. If you’re trying to lose fat, each meal should take you closer to that goal. If you wouldn’t want your friends to know what you’re eating, you probably aren’t making the right choices.